I can fix this. God damn it, I can make this good again.
He would listen to her, obey her as he had promised to do, but this time it would be to set him free, to set Nadia free and to end this nightmare once and for all.
"Ruben." She said in a voice transformed by grim conviction. "Put your gun down."
A ripple of anxiety went through the group. Nadia was in tears. Candy held her breath, squeezed the trigger on her weapon.
"You made a promise to me Ruben. Put your gun down."
"The mission overrides the promise Suzy. This situation is under control. Boyevik will release you. All you have to do is trust me."
"Put the damn gun down." She shouted. "I won't say it again. If you don't listen to me I'm going to attack him and end this one way or the other right now."
Ruben still held his gun high.
"Is not working pretty girl." Boyevik whispered into her ear and then opened his mouth, ready to bite down on her earlobe.
"Ruben, obey me or this bargain is over. I swear to you you'll never see me again, no matter what happens. If you don't listen to me right now and drop that gun then our time together is done."
The Mafioso's hot breath was on her neck as Ruben lowered his gun and then dropped it to the ground before raising his hands in surrender.
"Get the fuck off me now." Suzy hissed back at Boyevik. "Or I'll tell him to bury you on this island."
Boyevik squeezed hard on her throat, choking the words back down into her chest, but he backed off. His breath receded away from her ear.
"Very good." He said. "Mitch, let your bitch go."
Mitch hesitated a moment but a bullet unleashed by Boyevik through the open doors of the helicopter skimmed his ear and convinced him to follow orders. He pushed Nadia to the ground and Clay ran to scoop her up into his powerful arms. Explanations could wait, for now all he cared was that the most precious thing in his world of unimaginable wealth was safe in his arms again.
"Come on." Suzy said desperately to Boyevik. "I got him to let us go, now let's get out of here before he changes his mind."
Boyevik nodded to his remaining men and they began inching towards their parked jet. They were shadowed by Dale, Ruben, Candy and both the Hargrave and Mayweather security teams. The party of Mafiosi hurriedly climbed the stairs, locked the doors and their pilot fired up the engines. In minutes they were building speed for takeoff and Ruben stood looking as the plane lifted away from the ground.
It was a mission out of control. The very definition of the term and for the first time in his professional career he wished to God it wasn't so.
Candy approached him, stood in front of him and then took his big hands into her own. She had never seen him like this in all the years they had worked together.
He towered over her and finally looked down into her eyes.
Candy wrapped her arms around him and drew him to her. After a moment he wrapped his arms around her too, desperately needing to be held for the first time since he had lost his mother as a child.
Chapter Five
Watching the runway on Big Island shrink away below was the loneliest feeling Suzy had ever known. She could see Ruben watching, as rugged and strong as ever, but still more helpless than she could ever have imagined him to be.
She wanted to cry but instead she started to gasp, panting for air as anxiety threatened to close off her throat and shut down her ability to breathe.
She thought she was about to pass out when a sharp slap across the face brought her back to her senses. In the far, far distance below she thought she could see him embrace someone. It was a sight of lonely despair.
This was what she had done. This is what it had all led up to.
There could only be one word for the feeling she had now and it was love, but it was a love that was way too late; love destroyed and laid waste by one bad decision after another. Her mother had always said that book smarts weren't everything and right now she would have traded all her vaunted IQ for whatever kind of smarts it would have taken to get herself out of this mess and back into the arms of that heroic man.
"Alone at last." Mikhail Boyevik filled the seat opposite her and a chill of disgust ran through her body.
"That was very beautiful sacrifice you make for your friends Suzy. So noble. 'Take me, leave my friends behind'." He mocked. "Except real the sacrifice you still have to make. Isn't that right?" The vile, lustful stare he gave her made it clear what he meant by the remark.
"I'll fight." She said breathlessly. "I've got nothing to lose now. I'll hurt you."
"Good." He grinned salaciously. "I like women who fight and I like to hurt very, very much. I like to break them." He leaned in to put his hand on her but Mitch appeared out of nowhere and pushed it away.
"First we talk business." He said and sat down beside him, gun in hand. Boyevik turned to him, it was the first inkling he had of things not being quite as they had been before.
"I want my money. All of it. Then maybe you get this girl. If I'm happy with what I hear."
The aging Mafia don was genuinely surprised. He still had his gun in his hand but looked around cautiously as the remaining four Mafiosi came to back up their new boss.
"We talk business first Mr. Boyevik." One of them said. "All we want is our money. Business first."
A handful of dust blew into his face while Mitch covered Suzy's mouth and nose.
"Don’t breathe in." He said. "And don’t worry. I want you kept nice and clean for Mayweather. He's worth a lot of dough and judging by what happened back there I think he'll pay good money to get you back in one piece. Not mauled by this evil piece of shit here."
Boyevik opened his eyes and smiled.
"Where am I?" He said.
"Don’t worry pops," Mitch said with a warm smile of his own. "You're safe and sound and among good friends."
*******************
Dale put his hand to Ruben's shoulder and went to jerk him around but Ruben pushed his hand away, releasing Candy at the same time.
Dale was furious.
"You've got some damn explaining to do Ruben. You've gone too far this time. It's over for Mayweather and Hargrave. This is the mother of all screw ups."
Ruben stared back at him coldly.
"There's no time for this Dale. We need to refuel and get after them. Suzy has a tracer on her so we can figure out their destination and head them off."
Dale wanted to feed him one in the jaw but he wasn't that dumb. Despite his anger he still knew that Ruben was the best in the business and they didn’t have time to argue. They could settle their differences when Suzy was out of trouble.
"Get these planes refueled." Ruben said much louder over Dale's head. People began to scramble into action. "Let them know inside that the threat is gone, make sure people are looked after and treated for shock. Find out if anybody was hurt. Security, get this scum out of here," he prodded one of the tied up Mafiosi with the toe of his boot, "and keep twenty-four hour watch until we decide what to do with this trash.
He then turned to his colleagues and two closest friends, Dale and Clayton Hargrave.
"Here's what the plan is." He said, unwilling to explain his actions or relinquish command until he had made good on his promises to Suzy and brought this situation back under control.
Clayton shook his head and turned to walk away with his woman in his arms but Nadia became frantic, pushing against him.
"Clayton, no, put me down. Suzy is a prisoner of Boyevik, I can't leave her with him."
"There's nothing you can do about it Nadia." He said holding onto her. "Let Ruben take care of this. It's what he's good at. He's the best there is."
She pushed her way out of his arms to the ground.
"You're crazy." She said. "I'm seeing this through to the end."
Clay grabbed onto her wrist, restraining her but trying not to hurt her at the same time. He was still mystified as to why they were all here. He had heard Mitch refer to her as Boyevik's da
ughter but dismissed it as bullshit by the crazed Mafiosi.
"Nadia, what's going on here? What is it that I need to know? Don't you remember all we went through together? We promised no more secrets. Secrets are what got us into this mess in the first place."
"Who are they?" Dale interrupted. The groups attention shifted to the young woman and child who had been taken hostage in New Zealand by Mitch and his gang. They had quietly emerged from behind a row of stacked cargo boxes.
"Go back inside. " Ruben ordered. "It's not safe out here."
"Please." The woman said. "We need to get back home. We need to let our families know that we're safe. We were taken from the street days ago."
"My people will take care of you. Now go back to the main building." Ruben said.
"Don’t be such an asshole Ruben." Dale interrupted. "You come here kid." He said to the little girl. "You too ma'am."
The pair walked over to the group. The woman was dark haired, with a slim, rounded figure and she was dressed in short khakis and a t-shirt.
Dale hunkered down to the little girl who was clinging to the young woman.
"Don’t worry kiddo, I'll give you and your mommy a ride out of here."
The little girl shrank behind the woman's leg and then peeked out from behind her thigh.
Ruben shook his head, mumbled an epithet under his breath and then got back to the task in hand. Dale could play hero to these two innocent bystanders if he wanted to, but he had no time for that.
Suzy still had her tracer in place. This game was far from over yet.
********************
Suzy sat looking at her best friend's father. There was a family resemblance alright, but just barely. The look of malicious evil had left his eyes from the moment that dust had gone up his nose. Devil's Breath, Mitch had explained - scopolamine; the man would be docile for hours and reveal anything to them that they wanted to know.
The cruel irony of it. They had come all this way to extract the truth from this man and now here he was ready to reveal everything, but his daughter would never hear it. Suzy decided that even if she could never pass on what she learned to Nadia, that nevertheless she should learn the full truth. One less secret in the world. It might be her one last free and honorable act in this world.
Boyevik being now entirely docile and she herself cuffed to the seat, deemed low risk they had been left briefly alone together.
It was now or never.
"Mr. Boyevik." She said. The old man continued smiling; it was terrifying how complete the transformation had been.
"Is my friend Nadia really your daughter?"
He nodded and smiled.
"Little Nadia? Of course she is. How I miss her when her mama took her away from me. She was everything to me. Everything. How I miss." Two huge tears formed in the maleficent man's eyes.
Suzy was transfixed.
"Why did you do it? Why did you start to kill and hurt people?"
He looked surprised.
"Me? Hurt people? Never. I only ever take what is mine. In those days, in Russia, if you do not take then you are fool. Other will take from you. I want only best for my little girl but my wife not understand. I was clever man, you know? College professor. Crime come second. Was not natural for me. Not in beginning. But then you know, most criminals are idiot. Only advantage they have is their black evil heart. Once I make my heart black they cannot stop me, none of them. I make money, run legitimate business as well as crime. I even sell to US government, then back to Russians. Both sides pay good money for technology, for secrets. Russia and America always at war. Will never change. Forget what you read. Bear and Eagle never make peace."
"Why didn’t you tell Nadia that you were her father?"
"Not possible. Not possible…what is your name again?"
"Suzy."
"Suzy…Falstaff, yes." His face lit up, while Suzy recoiled. They had never met before. Nadia had kept her life at BoyTech under wraps and Suzy had understood never to press her on it.
"I know you too Suzy. I watch you long time growing up with her. You are like her. Very clever, very, very clever. One day you work for me too, eh?"
The familiarity and the thought of him watching her from childhood sickened her.
"Why didn’t you tell her?" She repeated.
"And let bitch wife Louise poison her with lies about me? Never. She was such a good girl, it would be shock to her. She need to find out slowly. She need also do bad things, little bit at a time. But I make sure she not responsible, would not remember. I am not such bad father. Always I use Devil's Breath. She has no memory…"
His voice trailed off. Suzy was rigid with shock.
"What did you make her do?"
"Only small things. Carry information, steal information, be nice to client every now and then. Nothing bad. She not remember."
Suzy stared at him, dumbfounded. She would need to tell Nadia. She would have to survive that long, make it out of this and let her know. Or was it better her friend didn’t know - spare her the pain of knowing that she had been so used.
"Then bitch daughter betrayed me too. After all I do for her." The kindly face had transformed again to spiteful, terrifying evil. Suzy instinctively pushed back in her seat.
"I will make ungrateful bitch daughter pay with her head, her body, I will--"
"Tell me again about how she was as a baby." Suzy said and watched, hypnotized as the face transformed once again.
"Strap in. We're going down." Mitch walked past. "You too old man. We’re here."
Suzy looked out the window and saw a tapering line of green dots in the vast ocean, illuminated brilliantly by the setting sun. She had no idea where they could be.
The descent began rapidly and it looked as though they would land in the middle of the forest, but then just as they were about to touch down a thin runway, disguised to blend into the foliage became visible. A pilot would have to know the terrain intimately to make a landing there. It was truly the middle of nowhere.
But she still had her tracking device. The thought seared through her and she nearly gasped. He could find her. There was still a chance. He would never let it go, she knew him at least that well.
She had to get rid of it, but there was no time. She was dragged roughly from her seat and then the party transferred to a shack at the edge of the forest. Mitch pushed her into a small bedroom and handcuffed her to a pipe running down the wall.
"You stay here baby." He said with a disgusting grin. "I'll be back later to keep you company."
After he left the room Suzy looked around in despair and then tested the strength of the pipe she had been shackled to. It was solid, well built. If she was to break it, it would create an unmerciful racket and only a thin door separated her from the outer room. It wouldn't work. She slid down to the floor, rested her head back against the wall and drifted into deep, painful, anxious sleep.
********************
When she awoke later, her body wracked with pain, she had no idea how long she had been out. The worst pain of all was the tearing, searing sensation at the top of her head.
"Wakey, wakey! Come on sleeping beauty. Up and at 'em." It was Mitch and he was holding her head up by her long hair. She gulped in a deep breath and jerked her head up.
It was real. The nightmare was still here.
She had closed her eyes to this and felt it melt away, but here it was again more vivid and real than ever. Mitch was close up against her staring straight at her.
Hold on Suzy, hold on.
Something in her had to believe that Ruben wasn't going to leave her. No matter what. Even if she got rid of his tracer, he would find her and everything would be alright again.
"Whaddya say we have a little fun Suzy? You must be pretty tired out, huh? Thirsty? Hungry? Here, take this." He held up a water bottle for her. She hadn't realized it until now but she was dying of thirst. As much as she despised him she grabbed for the bottle but he drew it back.
"Ah
, ah, ah. Not so fast."
She looked at him deliriously. She was starving as well as parched, disoriented from her sleep with no idea as to the time of day or even what day it was. Had they drugged her? Had they given her that drug? The one that had rendered even Boyevik so docile.
"I saved your ass from that vicious old man back there, didn't I baby?"
She nodded her head slowly. It was true, he had protected her.
Stockholm syndrome. The thought floated through her mind like a mirage.
"There's no telling what that old animal would have done to a pretty girl like you."
Through the haze of her confusion a stark fear began to build.
"But I'm not an old animal like him. I'm one of the good guys, I'm looking after you baby, ain't that right?"
She nodded her head again and reached for the water bottle but he still withheld it, placing it down on the floor just beyond her reach. She couldn’t take her eyes off it - it was thirst like nothing she had ever known before.
Mitch was glaring at her, grinning lasciviously. He reached out his hand and it came slowly towards her breast, slowly, slowly.
"You want that water pretty bad, don't you baby? All you have to do is be a little nice to me, just like I was nice to you."
His hand was almost on her now. She glanced at the cool water bottle one more time and then smacked his hand away from her. She tried to spit in his face but her mouth was so dry it was painful and nothing came out.
The rejected mobster was not happy. For a moment he looked as though he could beat her to death but then the smile returned to his face.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this." He reached into his pocket, took out a ball of cotton wool, tore it in two and pushed one piece into each of his nostrils.
"What is that? What are you doing?" Suzy asked, her words slurred and painful.
"It's a little present I have for you. Something to make you a little sweeter." He reached into his pocket again and drew out a small piece of tightly folded up paper.
Her Sweet Surrender: Billionaire Secrets - Book Four Page 8
